


Beneath an Ocean

by hookedonthesky



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mermaids, Short & Sweet, Underwater
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 17:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18481390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hookedonthesky/pseuds/hookedonthesky
Summary: Yuuri likes to sneak out and watch the beautiful silver-haired mer dance.





	Beneath an Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [ICanSeeClearlyNow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ICanSeeClearlyNow/pseuds/ICanSeeClearlyNow) for betaing this work!

Yuuri surveyed the arriving nobles, the very tips of the fins on his tail quivering a bit no matter how much he tried to still them. He  _ hated  _ this, hated having to meet with the visiting mers from other seas and kingdoms, hated having to act all prim and poised with not a scale out of place. He wanted to scream, wanted to shout out with frustration but he could already imagine his tutor scolding him, telling him that that’s not how a proper,  _ noble  _ mer should act.

He smiled instead, greeting every mer that came to introduce themselves to him.  _ Marriage prospects _ , he could almost hear his tutor’s whisper in his ear. He  _ hated  _ it, but he pushed it deep down and concentrated on keeping his expression level. He still needed to survive the whole banquet without slip-ups.

They had a special feast prepared for their guests, the best hunters from the court having brought fowls from the surface. Yuuri’s diet usually consisted of different algae, sometimes clams or other crustaceans, so this should have been a rare treat for him. But the food tasted like ash on his tongue.

His mask must not have been as perfect as he’d hoped. His older sister Mari caught his eye and quirked her eyebrow in question, looking worried, but he waved her off. It wasn’t her fault, and there was nothing she could fix. She couldn’t help him with the feelings of being trapped, of being stifled in the court from the attention the visiting mers were paying him. There was nothing inherently  _ wrong  _ with the other mers, but they were all too prim, too perfect and Yuuri felt judged each time he did something that wasn’t perfect as well. He just needed to survive this for a little more.

He made small talk with the guests, relying on hours upon hours of lessons he’d been forced to take. Yuuri had always been shy and awkward, but his tutor kept saying that that attitude wasn’t becoming of a mer of his status, so he’d learned how to act and how to talk. It wasn’t perfect yet, he still let out an occasional stutter or felt his cheeks warm, but it was dignified enough not to draw attention.

And finally,  _ finally  _ the feast started winding down. After everyone went to their chambers or curled up asleep outside, Yuuri had a chance. Saying goodbye to the last person he’d been talking to, and acting as he was about to head up to his cove, he instead hid behind a rock wall and swam through a crack between rocks. Then, carefully, so as to not get noticed by any of the guards, he swam out and away from the palace. 

He followed his usual path, first swimming between groups of large algae, then following the edge of one of the smaller coral reefs near their palace. 

Finally, he got far enough that he didn’t need to worry about being noticed and brought back, and he rose up and away from the ocean floor, swimming as fast as he could, his powerful tail propelling him steadily towards his destination. These usual excursions of his were risky, he didn’t dare think about what the reaction would be if he was caught, but he couldn’t stop, he couldn’t stay away. He usually felt stifled, and only the thought of this nightly swims kept him going throughout the day. He  _ needed  _ this.

After some time, the familiar path started to merge from the rising sea floor and he slowed, knowing he was about to reach his destination. His eyes were used to the dark of the sea, but he was still aware of everything getting brighter as he got closer to the shore. He recognised the light of the moon from his frequent visits. The moonlight made the scales on his tail glitter and shine. He didn’t like his tail, dull, dark blue as it usually was, but here, when it got exposed to moonlight, he privately thought that it looked like the night sky. 

And he loved it, loved the reminder that there was something more out there away from their court, something as huge and as beautiful as the night sky.

Getting to the edge of the shore, he slowed and swam down, almost pressing his belly to the ground. He carefully approached, hiding behind the rocks that indicated the rising of the ocean’s floor.

He was lucky that this land’s edge didn’t seem to be populated by humans, so he didn’t have to worry about being seen by them. His sister was the only one who knew about his nightly excursions, but even she didn’t know all the details. She teased him sometimes, telling him that he was like the princess from the legend, always fascinated by humans and wanting to watch and join them. But she was wrong. He didn’t care one bit about humans, about their awful, horrid ways of living and trying to catch and  _ eat  _ his kin. He shuddered. No, he came here for something else.

And he’d arrived right on time.  _ He  _ was there.

In the shallows, in the little tide pools near the beach, an octopus mer danced, and Yuuri gave a sigh of contentment. The other mer was _beautiful._ _He_ was the reason Yuuri went through so much trouble to sneak out as often as he could, the thing that was his one ray of hope throughout his dreary days.

He stumbled upon him one day by accident, swimming around despondently after he’d managed to escape from court for the day. He’d seen him, and been instantly mesmerized. The mer was looking for things in the tide pools, Yuuri had quickly realised. But he wasn’t doing it like it was his job, he was making a  _ game  _ of it, dancing around the pools, playfully swimming around and playing with his many limbs.

His silver hair shone in the moonlight even brighter than Yuuri’s scales, and his smile was breathtaking. Even his many limbs, a thing that Yuuri wasn’t used to seeing, mesmerized Yuuri, as they spread and retracted and danced around. 

If he weren’t so beautiful, so  _ carefree _ , Yuuri would have envied him for his freedom, but he simply couldn’t. Yuuri could just rejoice with him from the shadows, vicariously living through him for the short amount of time that he’d watch him, basking in his freedom as much as he could.

The court that Yuuri belonged to was elitist, accepting only single-tailed mers, ignoring, even looking down on others. Yuuri had been taught his whole life that octopus mers were too coarse, not nearly regal or poised enough. But how could he believe that, when this mer moved so gracefully and beautifully?

Yuuri settled down in his hiding place more comfortably, following the mer’s movement with his eyes. He felt content, and for those few precious moments he could forget the pressure he felt every day as a member of one of the most prestigious mer lineages, and just lose himself in the motions.

The silver-haired mer roamed around, collecting small trinkets even as he danced. Suddenly, he brought all of his limbs close to himself and tensed. Yuuri felt excitement filling him. He was about to do the spin! That was Yuuri’s favourite part of, what Yuuri privately liked to call, the performance. The other mer would enter a deeper tide pool and spin around, splashing water everywhere and letting out a loud laugh. Yuuri was taught that laughing out loud was a human thing, something that was crass and shouldn’t be done, but the other mer looked so  _ happy  _ doing it.

Yuuri’s tail quivered in excitement, anticipating the spin, when he accidentally caught a loose rock with it. He was hiding in pretty shallow water, close to the other mer to get a good vantage point, so the rock he caught dislodged another rock which fell into the water with a loud splash.

The octopus mer spun around, and Yuuri quickly ducked down, but it was too late. His wide eyes had met the other mer’s surprised blue eyes for a couple of heartbeats.

Yuuri cursed himself, curling into an approximation of a ball with his tail tucked close to his body, hiding his head under his fins. He couldn’t believe he’d ruined everything like that. Why couldn’t he have been more careful? Now the other mer will think of him as a creep,  _ spying  _ on him. Who knew what he thought about one-tailed mers? What if he hated him?

What if he shouted at him, told him to go away? Yuuri hugged himself and squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he was anywhere else.

Or what if he just left? Maybe he’d think Yuuri was a threat and leave, maybe he was already gone?

Whatever happened, he would never come back to this place, Yuuri was sure. He would find another place with tide pools, and Yuuri would never see him again. He would never again be able to get lost in the other’s movement and freedom, he’d be a prisoner in the endless days of court meetings and stilted interactions with other, ‘proper’ mers. Yuuri felt tears gathering in his eyes but he pushed them back. He wouldn’t cry, he wouldn’t!

“Hey,” a soft voice said.

Yuuri’s eyes flew open and he jerked back. There, in front of him stood the octopus mer, looking at him curiously. He… didn’t look angry or afraid, but Yuuri firmly squashed any hope that tried to blossom. That didn’t mean anything yet.

“What’s wrong?” the other mer continued, still looking at Yuuri with no malice.

“W-wrong?” Yuuri parroted incredulously. “You aren’t... m-mad?”

“Why would I be mad?” the other replied, confusion bleeding into his expression.

“I-I… I was spying on you,” Yuuri admitted, curling back into himself a little. 

“B-but that’s only because, because…” He squeezed his eyes shut and blurted out, “I thought your dancing was beautiful!”

When an answer wasn’t forthcoming immediately, he slowly opened his eyes.

The mer was looking at him with a surprised expression that was slowly turning into delight. He grinned at Yuuri then, and it was one of those huge, happy grins that Yuuri had seen only from afar until that moment.

“You’re cute,” the octopus mer finally said, and Yuuri could feel himself blushing. “I’m Viktor, what’s your name?”

“I-I’m Yuuri!”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Yuuri!” Viktor said, a couple of his limbs quivering excitedly.

Viktor was still grinning at him and Yuuri couldn’t help but grin back. Viktor took one of Yuuri’s hands with his, and Yuuri instinctively squeezed back.

“Come,” Viktor said, dragging him towards the tide pools. “We can have fun together!”

Yuuri followed along, helplessly basking in Viktor’s presence. He was… he was  _ happy. _

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, my first YoI fanfic posted on here! I hope I did the series justice and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it! This work is complete, but I will probably make a collection of one shots in the same universe to show what happens next with our sweet boys.  
> Please tell me if you see any mistakes, or have any comments or suggestions. Thank you for reading! <3
> 
> My [Tumblr](https://hookedonthesky.tumblr.com), if anyone's interested.


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